©️Opeyemi Akintunde.
Mr Teju covered my nakedness. Before daybreak, I was out of the house. I got a taxi to help me with moving the necessary things.
Before leaving, I sent a text to F.D…
“F.D, I have left your house. the key is in its usual hiding spot”…
I slept in the living room. I didn’t want to get close to Promise. I was angry at her.
A text from Leni woke me up …
I was expecting an apology but what she texted me threw me off balance…
I dialled her number but she didn’t pick up… I called the number all morning, but she kept declining my call…
“I am sorry, F.D” Promise said
I didn’t realize she was standing behind me, hovering over me …
“Why is Leni declining your call, as she is declining mine too, I tried calling her to please appeal to you, but she keeps declining the call… What’s going on between you two?”
I felt like a mosquito was perching. I stood up, hissed and walked to the bedroom…
“Am I cursed” was the question I asked myself. It appeared history was about repeating itself. Shola didn’t make love to me except once after our wedding. And here was F.D attempting to do the same. He was not speaking to me after our wedding.
I ran after him…
“F.D please don’t do this to me, don’t bring bad memories, this was exactly how Shola tortured me after our wedding”
“If I am doing the same to you, don’t you think you should check yourself?
Promise…. unless you have my baby, there is no marriage”
“How can there be a baby if there is no romance between us?”
“You should have thought about that before you lied to me ..”
For the next year, life was hell, but a different kind of hell… F.D made love to me whenever he pleased, but no child was forthcoming. He abused me emotionally calling me a barren woman. F.D changed, he was always unhappy. The only thing that gave him a bit of joy was his fashion business..
Leni had cut ties with us. I tried reaching her a few times but she apparently had blacklisted our numbers… I pestered F.D for answers. Eventually, he told me Leni was not ready to give up her ways of falling cheaply for men, hence he wanted some distance.
The desire to have F.D’s child made me go out to several places. I went to churches, mosques, and traditional healers, but all to no avail. However, one of the places I went to, hinted that F.D had a child outside our marriage.
“Whoever said so is sick” F.D denied vehemently
“F.D…F.D, I swear if it is true that you have a child with another woman, I will kill the mother of the child, the child in question, I will kill you and thereafter I will think about killing myself…”
“That’s just some empty threat, you better put your mind at rest and stop going around”
“F.D, Shola was not good to me, see how it turned out for him. I am not joking F.D, the same way I love, the same way I hate… I can be extremely in love with you, and I can extremely hate you.” Promise said with every strength in her.
I would have been a fool not to have taken Promise’s word seriously. I knew it was best I lay low for a while. I had to dance to her tune of making babies with her and pretend to be happy in the marriage. If not, Promise could become nosy and find out all that is between Leni and me. I decided to be passionate about making babies with her especially since Leni and I were no longer on speaking terms.
At that time, it was already a year of not hearing from Leni, I didn’t know where on earth she was. The day after my wedding to Promise, I had gone back to the house to check on her, only to meet her absence and a short note. I had taken the key to the house from where we always kept it.
When I got into the house, I saw the note on the dining table…
“It’s time I lived my life outside you if I want to ever amount to anything good in life. My kids and I will be fine. If you want to support me in raising your child, you can always send money into my bank account…
Thank you for being the best brother… I will miss you….”
I remember breaking down in tears in the house as the images of the memories of our time together in the house flashed before me. I knew it was best I left her to live her life.
Within the one year, I did not default in sending her enough money for her upkeep and the kids. I made sure the money was enough to also help with her schooling. Promise had invested in me, so I had enough money to take care of my other family.
Here was Promise threatening to kill my son and the mother of the child if she found out. I had to do everything to keep them at bay. Promise believed Leni and I had a fall out because of her third child and Leni couldn’t handle all my insults. That was the lie I gave her concerning Leni’s disappearance from our lives. Promise bought the lie because it was convenient for her, she wanted me all to herself…..
Though I was not happy with keeping Leni at bay, if I didn’t want to lose her, it was best I let her live her life…
To be continued…
